“Da Vinci Code, move over. Robert Appelbaum has feasted us with a scholarly and lively insider’s foray into the fascinating codes behind food writing. Aguecheek’s Beef is perfectly spiced with foodie trivia and tidbits from ancient Roman cookbooks, Boccaccio’s poetry, Shakespeare’s plays, Rousseau’s philosophy, and more. A book that provides sustenance for everyone from serious food historians to weekend cooks, it will surely become a foodie classic!”—Francine Segan, author of Shakespeare’s Kitchen: Renaissance Recipes for the Contemporary Cook and The Opera Lover’s Cookbook
“Beautifully written and extremely thought-provoking. Appelbaum’s tone is refreshingly light, and he approaches with a great deal of wit and panache the many different attitudes toward food in the early modern period and the ways they clash or combine. Aguecheek’s Beef, Belch’s Hiccup will enthrall food historians and food enthusiasts alike.”—Ken Albala, author of The Banquet: Dining in the Great Courts of Late Renaissance Europe
“This book is as sumptuous and well-structured as the Renaissance banquets it describes. Appelbaum makes familiar and unfamiliar material fully his own through the rigor of his interpretations and the breadth and depth of his knowledge of the subject.”—Michael Schoenfeldt, author of Bodies and Selves in Early Modern England
"Appelbaum explores, chapter by chapter, the different ways in which early modern authors write about food. . . . [He]
persuades us to ask searching questions about brief culinary asides in 16th-century literature and to recognise the false clues by which some commentators have been misled. . . . Readers learn almost as much about early modern food as about the literature that digests it."—Times Higher Education Supplement
"An accessible and engaging exploration of the significance of food in early modern literature and social practice. . . . The useful material Appelbaum incorporates into his interpretation of these texts and into his study as a whole, and his attention both to detail and to broader social conditions and literary trends, make this a useful book for a wide range of readers."—Jan Purnis, Renaissance Quarterly
"[The] study is expansive, ambitious, learned, and often both startling and delightful. . . . The really notable thing about Aguecheek's Beef is its erudite yet genial breadth of vision, which marks it as a major sourcebook for future scholars working in the field of food studies. Applebaum comes as close as possible to offering readers a unified field theory of early modern alimentary behavior. . . . A study of marvelous richnes and diversity."—Bruce Boehrer, Clio
"The triangulation among print documents from a diverse and expansive canon; the turns, as well as the minutiae, of grand events; and the informed speculation about material aspects of existence, yield rich, satisfying results."
"I consider this book excellent in almost every regard. Applebaum's scholarship is deep, his prose immensely readable, and his thesis compelling from beginning to end. . . . His ability to see in very specific examples . . . the larger lineaments of a culture's attitudes toward itself makes for a lively intellectual journey."
"An insightful and thought-provoking book and the arguments Applebaum makes . . . are already shaping scholarship on this important branch of cultural studies about the ideational meanings of food, and the relationship between literature and food."
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
A Note on the Texts
CHAPTER ONE-Aguecheek's Beef, Hamlet's Baked Meat
CHAPTER TWO-The Sensational Science
CHAPTER THREE-The Cookbook As Literature
CHAPTER FOUR-The Food of Wishes, from Cockaigne to Utopia
CHAPTER FIVE-Food of Regret CHAPTER SIX-Belch's Hiccup
CHAPTER SEVEN-Cannibals and Missionaries
CONCLUSION-Crusoe's Friday, Rousseau's Émile
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index
For more information, or to order this book, please visit http://www.press.uchicago.edu
